Tag: "Ed Cardenas"

WABC, New York’s Rita Cosby Interviews Pope Francis. Calling it an historic conversation, WABC, New York journalist and talk personality Rita Cosby traveled to Rome earlier this week to both meet with Pope Francis and broadcast back to her New York audience from the Vatican. Cosby met with the Pope on Wednesday (6/4) and says that among the topics they discussed was his role in creating peace in the Middle East. On Sunday, the Pontiff will meet in the Vatican for a prayer summit with Israeli president Shimon Peres and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. Cosby says of her meeting with Pope Francis, “One of the greatest moments of my life. He was extremely engaging and approachable. It is clear he cares deeply about peace in the Mideast and would like to do anything he can to assist this very difficult process.” Cosby discussed her conversation with the Pope on the Thursday 5:00 pm program she co-hosts with Pat Kiernan. Pictured here is Cosby meeting with Pope Francis outside the Vatican. Photo: L’Osservatore Romano.

Livestream Connects Talk Radio with Visual Platforms – Groundbreaking Firm to Play Role at Talkers New York 2014. One of the leading-edge technology companies (founded in 2007) that provides radio stations, networks and shows with an accessible system to stream their content in a video mode – Livestream – will be demonstrating its systems and providing instruction at Talkers New York 2014 on Friday, June 20 in the event’s exhibit area. The company’s chief revenue officer, Sam Kimball will also participate in a panel discussion, “Radio: The Big Picture,” moderated by TALKERS publisher Michael Harrison. This signifies the rapidly growing company’s preliminary endeavor at marketing its stellar product to radio, according to Livestream’s GM for news and radio,Clayton Rose. In an exclusive feature story written by TALKERS managing editor/West Coast bureau chief Mike Kinosian posted today (6/6), Rose states, “It has almost been an inbound initiative of us being reactive. We are now at the point where we think there is enough of a market out there that we are going to be more proactive in reaching out and trying to work with radio programmers to live stream their content.” Nearly 150 employees comprising Livestream are found in its Brooklyn global headquarters, or satellite offices in Los Angeles, London, Bangalore (India), and Zaporizhia (Ukraine). Software engineers are responsible for building the Livestream technology. “It is a much dispersed work world we live in,” Rose acknowledges. “You find the best people you can, and if they happen to be software engineers in the Ukraine, that is where you set up an office. It is becoming more and more common. Livestream, SKYPE, and other means of technology are making the world a lot smaller than it used to be.” Current talk radio clients of Livestream include progressive hosts, Thom Hartmann (this year’s freedom of Speech Award recipient), Stephanie Miller and Mike Malloy, as well as KTRS, St. Louis’ morning personality McGraw Milhaven and talk programming on Tucson’s KQTH. To read Mike Kinosian’s entire article, please click here.

New Talk and Sports Outlets in Evansville. There are two companies involved in the changes taking place in the Evansville market. First, The Original Company’s WYFX flips from sports talk as “ESPN Radio 106.7” to news/talk with the new lineup as follows: The WSJRN’s “The Wall Street Journal This Morning” with Gordon Deal; three Fox News Radio shows – Brian Kilmeade, John Gibson and Tom Sullivan; Premiere Networks’ “America Now” with Andy Dean; and WestwoodOne’s Michael Savage. At Townsquare Media’s crosstown WJLT, the station is dropping classic hits and will flip to sports talk using ESPN programming. Tristatehomepage.com reports air personalities Dave Westrich, Julie Michaels, Johnny Kincaid, and Gavin Eddings are out at WJLT as a result of the flip.

Lucky Seven National Radio Hall of Fame Inductees. When the 2014 National Radio Hall of Fame inductees are honored in five months (11/9), the ceremony will take place in Los Angeles, rather than Chicago where every other such event has been held. The NRHOF class of 2014 includes Charlie Brown (Jack Woods) & Irv Harrigan (Paul Menard) better known as “Charlie & Harrigan,” Barry Farber, Stanley Hubbard, Jon Miller, Agnes Moorehead (posthumous), Dick Orkin, and “This American Life” host Ira Glass.Museum of Broadcast Communications founder and president Bruce DuMont confirms that, “The National Radio Hall of Fame is taking the show on the road this year. Many Radio Hall of Famers and several 2014 inductees live in southern California, so it seems like a great time to try something different.” Charlie & Harrigan were first paired in 1966 in Dallas at KLIF. They would later enjoy success in Cleveland, Houston, and San Diego. Farber’s radio career began in the 1950s in New York when he joined WNBC-AM as a producer. He had a 15-year association with New York’s WOR and more than 10 years at cross-town WMCA. He has had national exposure on the ABC Radio Network and – since 2008 – on CRN Digital Talk Radio. Hubbard Broadcasting founder Stanley Hubbard launched WAMD, Minneapolis in 1923. The following year, he started what might have been radio’s first regularly scheduled daily news broadcast, which aired at 6:00 pm each evening. Seven-year San Francisco Giants radio voice Miller (on Bay Area KNBR) has had additional MLB play-by-play experience with the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Oakland A’s, and Texas Rangers. He had a two-decade run with ESPN TV, anchoring “Sunday Night Baseball,” and he covered 13 consecutive World Series for ESPN Radio. Known to many as “Endora” on the TV series “Bewitched,” Moorehead began her career as a singer on St. Louis heritage station KMOX. She passed away more than 40 years ago (April 1974). Orkin attended the Yale School of Drama and he is the creator of the longest-running radio serial of all time, “Chickenman,” which chronicled the exploits of a mild-mannered shoe salesman-turned-crime-fighter. Since 1978, Orkin has created radio commercials through his California-based Radio Ranch production company. “This American Life” host/producer Glass launched the show in November 1995 as “Your Radio Playhouse” on Chicago’s WBEZ. The next summer, it had been picked up for national syndication and the show has won two George Foster Peabody awards. A number of women of the National Radio Hall of Fame will be honored at this year’s NRHOF induction ceremony. They include Eve Arden (“Our Miss Brooks“), Virginia Payne (“Ma Perkins“), Shirley Bell (“Little Orphan Annie“), and Virginia Clark and Julie Stevens (“The Romance of Helen Trent“). Other females to be recognized include comedians Gracie Allen and Jane Ace; Marian Jordan (“Fibber McGee and Molly”) and Gertrude Berg (“The Goldbergs”). Other ladies to be saluted that night are producer Lynne “Angel” Harvey (Paul’s wife) and Cathy Hughes; journalists Ann Compton (ABC News) and Susan Stamberg (NPR);interviewer Terry Gross; singer Kate Smith; urban radio personality (and now daytime TV talk host) Wendy Williams; Chicago talents Yvonne Daniels and Terri Hemmert; and jazz pianist-composer-writer Marian McPartland. Premiere Radio Networks will produce/distribute the broadcast in association with the MBC. Premiere’s nighttime adult contemporary “Love Songs” personality Delilah will host the Hall of Fame ceremony; Westwood One‘s Jim Bohannon will be the announcer.

Odds & Sods. All-news WWJ, Detroit announces Ed Cardenas joins the station to serve as its digital reporter. The CBS RADIO outlet says he’ll serve as a regular on-air contributor and will also provide content for CBSDetroit.com. WWJ program director Rob Davidek says, “Ed is a terrific writer who knows the area and will be finding and telling stories focused on business, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. He will be a great addition to our all-news format.”…..When the 68th Annual Tony Awards kick off on Sunday evening, WABC, New York will begin a “live tweeting analysis.” The station says, it will cover the iconic New York awards show beginning at 8:00 pm ET when “Imus in The Morning” cast members Imogen Lloyd Webber and Mike Gunzelman will be tweeting analysis, reaction, and green room moments live from Radio City Music Hall. WABC program director Craig Schwalb states, “You can’t be in New York and ignore the Tony Awards. With Imogen and Mike, 77 WABC will provide timely and entertaining coverage any fan of Broadway should make a point to follow.”…..Cumulus Dallas announces sports talk KTCK “The Ticket” and the NHL’s Dallas Stars renew their deal for the station to air the team’s play-by-play for the next five seasons.

Norm Pattiz to Receive 2014 TALKERS Lifetime Achievement Award. The editorial board of TALKERS magazine has named Norm Pattiz the recipient of the publication’s annual Lifetime Achievement Award for 2014. Pattiz is the founder and former chairman/ CEO of the original Westwood One, which under his leadership was America’s largest radio network and provider of news, sports, entertainment, talk and traffic programming to the broadcast industry. Westwood One owned, managed or distributed NBCRadio Networks, CBS News, CNN Radio, the Mutual Broadcasting System, numerous major league professional sports schedules and events, the Olympic Games and an extraordinarily wide variety of syndicated talk and music shows. In 2010, Pattiz, founded and launched Courtside Entertainment Group. The company produces and finances multi-platform programming and is the radio home of Loveline, Bill O’Reilly, Dr. Drew, Laura Ingraham, Ron Paul and a wide variety of music “super specials.” Recognizing the untapped opportunities in the audio on-demand industry, Pattiz launched PodcastOne at the end of 2012. The company quickly became the leading producer/ distributer in audio on-demand programming. Today, PodcastOne’s popular line-up of personalities and brands include Adam Carolla, Dan Patrick, Steve Austin, Radio Lab, Freakonomics Radio, the Nerdist, Jay Mohr, Kathie Lee Gifford, Dennis Miller, Penn Jillette, Ross Tucker, Yahoo Sports, Bret Eason Ellis, public radio stations WNYC, New York and KCRW, Los Angeles as well as 200 more of the nation’s most popular podcasts. PodcastOne programs are downloaded over 120 million times every month. In 2000, Pattiz was appointed by President Clinton and reappointed in 2002 by President Bush to serve on the Broadcasting Board of Governors of the United States of America. The Board oversees all U.S. nonmilitary broadcasting services, including Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, Middle East Broadcasting and others. Pattiz was responsible for conceiving and launching America’s Arabic language radio and television services to all 22 countries of the Middle East, plus Farsi language broadcasting to Iran reaching a weekly audience of more than 40 million listeners — an achievement that earned him the TALKERS magazine Freedom of Speech Award in 2002. Pattiz currently serves as a regent of the University of California. He is the chairman of the Regent’s Oversight Committee of the Department of Energy Laboratories and serves as the chairman of the board of the Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos National Security Labs. Pattiz is an inductee of the National Radio Hall of Fame and has been the recipient of numerous professional and leadership awards including the “Giants of Broadcasting Award” from the Library of American Broadcasting. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Pacific Council on International Relations. Upon announcing the selection of Norm Pattiz as the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award, TALKERS publisher Michael Harrison states, “This amazing broadcaster has made an indelible and positive impact on the radio business that is now extending into the digital era with the same force and measurable effect that he began delivering so many decades ago. If Norm Pattiz doesn’t deserve the TALKERS Lifetime Achievement Award, nobody does.” The honor will be presented at the gala Awards Ceremony at Talkers New York 2014 by legendary WestwoodOne personality Jim Bohannon on Friday June 20. There will be more than 65 industry leaders in speaking roles at the conference which takes place on Friday, June 20 at the iconic India House in the heart of New York City’s historic Financial District. Registration is only open to professionals (and broadcasting students) working in radio and related media. The cost is $249 per person which includes all sessions, receptions, food and refreshments. Registrations can only be booked over the phone with credit card. Call 413-565-5413. Again, a sellout is expected shortly. For up-to-the-minute agenda information and further details please click here.

Bergdahl Prisoner Swap Controversy Top News/Talk Story for Week of June 2-6. The highly controversial swap of five prisoners with terrorist connections for Taliban-captured Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was the most-talked-about story on news/talk radio during the week of June 2-6, landing atop the Talkers TenTM. At #2 was the primary elections and this fall’s mid-term elections. Following at #3 was the 2016 presidential race and, at #4, the VA Hospitals scandal tied with criticism of the Affordable Care Act. The Talkers TenTM is a weekly chart of the top stories and people discussed on news/talk radio during the week. It is the result of ongoing research from TALKERS and is published every Friday at Talkers.com. View this week’s entire chart here.